day! More than 50 per cent. of the courses are devoted to the mechanics of the school room-in a day when the whole question of mechanics is in dispute! In the preface to his "Elementary Experiments in Education," Professor Starch suggests that "educational experiments require no preliminary training in psychology." Do these courses at the University of Michigan show how fully teachers of education are devoted to an unilluminated development of the mechanisms of schooling? History is neglected; the broader aspects of psychological theory and the fundamental principles are merely touched upon; the social relationships and significances of the school, and the biological and sociological foundations of education merely glanced at-in order to plunge into the mazes of experiment, test, scale and administrative technique and routine! Is there any wonder that education languishes and that the public is doubtful of the values of schooling? We are building up a magnificent educational machine. What is it for? JOSEPH K. HART CHARACTER EDUCATION A NATIONAL research among educators for the best method of character education in public schools, which carries an award of $20,000, will close at midnight Washington's Birthday next. In each state a committee of nine collaborators has been working for over a year, and the award for the best plan will go to some state, to be divided, $4,000 to the chairman and $2,000 to each of his eight collaborators. After the judges have made the award, all the better plans will be distributed to the leading educators of the nation for study. The research is under the control of The Character Education Institution, of Washington, D. C., which has as its board of directors many of the state commissioners and state superintendents of education throughout the nation. The donor of the award, who is a business man interested in character education for all children, refuses to allow his name to be made public, but as the advising treasurer of the institution, has promised to supply personally $1,000 a month ($12,000 a year) for continued advanced thinking, in order that the educators of the nation may succeed in solving the problems of character education. He believes that if the good purposes of the children can be strengthened and their habits wisely formed, they will do better intellectual work in school and turn out better men and women, which means better sons and daughters to their parents, better fathers and mothers to their own children, better citizens for their nation, and more fully successful in their lives. With this belief educators agree, and they think that they ought to have universal sympathy in this effort to better the school work for character development and to help the homes of the nation bring up the children as good citizens. The Character Education Institution is preparing a bulletin on the "Character Education of Babies," in consultation with the officers of the National Congress of Mothers. It is trying to discover how to diagnose the character of children so as to find out what influences any child needs as a stimulation for its character development, also how to interest the children in moral wisdom that they may profit by the experiences of their elders, also how to persuade them to be loyal to great moral ideas in their daily lives. The problems of religious education are not within the field of this education research institution. The expectation is that the churches will form their own institution for that field of research, and discover the best ways and means for making religious sanctions effective for moral conduct. Public education has to present the personal and public sanctions. These have been neglected by the churches as factors in moral education. When the churches influence the children profoundly with religious sanctions and the schools influence them profoundly with personal and public sanctions, then the level of righteousness will be elevated throughout the whole nation, generation after generation. In a republic it is an essential of national existence and growth that there be true and unselfish purposes in the hearts of the masses of the people, both rich and poor. Good citizenship has good character as its foundation and education in schools and in churches must direct and stimulate character development for all the children. MILTON FAIRCHILD THE CHARACTER EDUCATION INSTITUTION QUOTATIONS FACULTIES AND GOVERNING BOARDS THE differences between the ordinary industrial employment and the conduct of a society or guild of scholars in a university are wide. In the industrial system of employment the employee is paid according to the value of his services; he can be discharged when no longer wanted; and his duties are prescribed as minutely as may be desired by the employer. In a university there is permanence of tenure; substantial equality of pay within each academic grade; and although the duties in general are well understood, there is great freedom in the method of performing them. It is not difficult to see why each of these conditions prevails, and is in fact dependent upon the others. Permanence of tenure lies at the base of the difference between a society of scholars in a university and the employees in an industrial concern. In the latter, under prevailing conditions, men are employed in order to promote its earning power. In a university the concern exists to promote the work of the scholars and of the students whom they teach. Therefore in the industrial concern an unprofitable employee is discharged, but in the university the usefulness of the scholar depends largely upon his sense of security, upon the fact that he can work for an object that may be remote and whose value may not be easily demonstrated. In a university, barring positive misconduct, permanence of tenure is essential for members who have passed the probationary period. The equality of pay goes with the permanence of tenure. In an industrial establishment the higher class of officials, those who correspond most nearly to the grade of professors, can be paid what they may be worth to the concern, and discharged if they are not worth their salaries. How valuable they are can be fairly estimated, and their compensation can be varied accordingly. But professors, whose tenure is permanent, can not be discharged if they do not prove so valuable as they were expected to be. Moreover it is impossible to determine the value of scholars in the same way as that of commercial officials. An attempt to do so would create injustice and endless discontent; and it would offer a temptation to secure high pay, from their own or another institution, by a display wholly inconsistent with the scholarly attitude of mind. The only satisfactory system is that of paying salaries on something very close to a fixed scale, and letting every professor do as good work as he can. In an industrial concern the prospect of a high salary may be needed to induce the greatest effort; but indolence among professors is seldom found. They may, indeed, prefer a line of work less important than some other; a man may desire to do research who is better fitted for teaching, or he may prefer to teach advanced students when there is a greater need of the strongest men in more elementary instruction; but failure to work hard is rare. The governing boards of universities having, then, the ultimate legal control in their hands, and yet not being in the position of industrial employers, it is pertinent to inquire what their relation to the professors should be. If we bear in mind the conception of a society or guild of scholars, that relation usually becomes in practise clear. The scholars, both individually and gathered into faculties, are to provide the expert knowledge; the governing board the financial management, the general coordination, the arbitral determinations, and the preservation of the general direction of public policy. In the words of a former member of the Harvard Corporation, their business is to serve tables." The relation is not one of employer and employed, of superior and inferior, of master and servant, but one of mutual cooperation for the promotion of the scholars' work. Unless the professors have confidence in the singleness of purpose and in the wisdom of the governing boards, and unless these in their turn recognize that they exist to promote the work of the society of scholars, the relations will not have the harmony that they should. The relation is one that involves constant seeking of opinion, and in the main the university must be conducted, not by authority, but by persuasion. There is not natural antagonism of interests between trustees and professors. To suggest it is to suggest failure in their proper, relation to one another; to suppose it is to provoke failure; to assume it is to ensure failure. faculties and the governing boards-those things that each had better undertake, those it had better leave to the other, and those which require mutual concession-are best learned from experience and best embodied in tradition. Tradition has great advantages over regulations. It is a more delicate instrument; it accommodates itself to things that are not susceptible of sharp definition; it is more flexible in its application, making exceptions and allowances which it would be difficult to foresee or prescribe. It is also more stable. Regulations can be amended; tradition can not, for it is not made, but grows, and can be altered only by a gradual change in general opinion, not by a majority vote. In short, it can not be amended, but only outgrown.-President A. Lawrence Lowell of Harvard University in his Annual Report. EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH AND STATISTICS THE CLASS IN OCCUPATIONS IN NEWTON The question has often been raised whether nominations for appointments should be made by the faculties or their committees, or by the president. It would seem that the less formal the provisions the better. Any president of a university or college who makes a nomination to the governing board without consulting formally or informally the leading professors in the subject and without making sure that most of them approve of it, is taking a grave responsibility that can be justified/A only by a condition that requires surgery. The objection to a formal nomination by a faculty, or a committee thereof, is that it places the members in an uncomfortable position in regard to their younger colleagues, and that it creates a tendency for the promotion of useful rather than excellent men. A wise president will not make nominations without being sure of the support of the instructing staff, but he may properly, and indeed ought, to decline to make nominations unless convinced that the nominee is of the caliber that ought to be appointed. Attempts have been made to define, and express in written rules, the relation between the faculties and the governing boards; but the best element in that relation is an intangible, an indefinable, influence. If husband and wife should attempt to define by regulations their respective rights and duties in the household, that marriage could safely be pronounced a failure. The essence of the relation is mutual confidence and mutual regard; and the respective functions of the COMMITTEE of teachers and principals in Newton, Massachusetts, cooperating with Superintendent U. G. Wheeler, in November, 1919, decided to ask the Bureau of Vocational Guidance, Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, to give six lessons to seventh and eighth grade teachers in order to prepare them for teaching classes in occupations, The lessons as planned were given, an hour and a half each, two of them before the classes in the schools were started in January, 1920, and four afterwards. Mimeographed outlines were distributed in A brief bibliography of books on occupations. and explanation of difficulties. A number of high-school teachers and others from the elementary schools attended the discussions and have since utilized some of the material in connection with the studies of the curriculum. At the end of a year's experience with the class in occupations, the school principals concerned and the teachers of the classes in seventh and eighth grades were asked a number of questions. Every attempt was made to secure the freest criticism, particularly by unsigned papers sent directly to the Bureau of Vocational Guidance, Harvard University. The answers to the questions revealed numerous difficulties, and are instructive as indicating difficulties common to all subjects with which teachers are unfamiliar. The Bureau of Vocational Guidance hopes to meet some of the difficulties by means of studies in this field, and arrangements are now being made to provide for exchange of experiences and for better supervision. The following are the questions submitted and the answers received. 1. Do you approve of this effort to have children study and discuss occupations and occupational problems? 4. Do you feel any serious need of more subjectmatter for the work? Yes-15 (5 specified need of more available text-books or outlines of occupational information); no-1. 5. Do you feel the need of more outside help or supervision? Yes-10 (1 specified "no" if necessary material were provided); no-6. 6. Do you favor the separate class for "occupa tions," rather than extending time for civics or oral English to provide for this work? Yes-15; no-2. 7. Has the work had any effect on the general attitude of the pupils toward school as a whole or toward the other studies? If so, how? Yes-13 (degree of success: fair-3; partly-1; not very, but slowly improving-1); too soon to determine-2. 10. If the Bureau of Vocational Guidance should do this work for other cities, what additional suggestions can you give us to help improve the course of six lessons we gave the Newton teachers? Better and fuller texts-3. More than six lessons needed to become fa- Have practise lessons given with teachers, then with children other than their own-1. More impromptu dialogue work-1. Instruction by person engaged in a trade-1. More instruction of teachers on how to teach certain type occupations-1. Instruction in vocational guidance in connection with other subjects-1. 11. About what fraction of the time have you given to each of the following: SOCIETIES AND MEETINGS THE ATLANTIC CITY MEETING THE Council of State Superintendents will hold conferences Friday and Saturday, February 25 and 26. The Friday morning conference will be addressed by Lorraine Elizabeth Wooster, state superintendent of schools, Topeka, Kans.; N. P. Shawkey, Charleston, W. Va., "County superintendents' salaries;" Mary C. Bradford, Denver, Colo., "Thrift in our schools." The Friday afternoon conference will be addressed by C. P. Cary, Madison, Wis., "Election of state superintendents; " P. E. McClenaham, Des Moines, Iowa, "County normal institutes;" John N. Matzen, Lincoln, Nebr., "Elimination of non-essentials." The Friday evening meeting will be ad Saturday morning the conference will be addressed by L. N. Hines, Indianapolis, Ind., "Certification of teachers; "Sam A. Baker, Jefferson City, Utah; L. T. Muir, Salt Lake City, Utah. Saturday afternoon the conference will be addressed by Will C. Wood, Sacramento, Calif.; Annie Webb Blanton, Austin, Texas, "Federal aid to schools; " Harry E. Oleson, chief justice, Municipal Court, Chicago, Ill., "Needed care of defectives." Saturday evening after dinner the conference will be addressed by Senator Capper; Congressman-elect Robertson, of Oklahoma; Congressman Simeon D. Fees, of Ohio, and Congressman Andrews, of Nebraska. Harding may be present. Mr. The officers are: President, Lorraine Elizabeth Wooster, state superintendent of schools, Topeka, Kans.; Secretary, Augustus O. Thomas, state superintendent, Augusta, Maine. THE National Society of College Teachers of Education will hold conferences Friday afternoon and evening, February 25, and Saturday morning, February 26, in the Traymore library. The afternoon session, which begins at 2 o'clock, will be devoted to reports of the Committee on Preparation of Curriculum in Education, A. J. Jones, chairman, and the Committee on Standardizing Colleges, Schools and Departments of Education, J. E. Butterworth, chairman. Short addresses will be given by A. Duncan Yocum, "Uniform nomenclature; H. W. Nutt, "Common content in special method courses; " A. J. Jones, "The determination of the actual needs of teachers; " S. H. Courtis, "Standards of teaching ability;" A. R. Brubacker, "Measuring teaching personality;" S. B. Davis, "A teacher-improvement score card." The Friday evening session, which begins. at 8 o'clock, will be addressed by H. H. Foster, |